Bag-closure.



C. M. THRASHER.

BAG CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I3, IaIs Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

CHARLES M. THRASHER, 0F DOUGLAS, ARIZONA.

BAG-CLOSURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented nec. 17, 1918.

Application led April 13, 1918. Serial No. 228,394.

To all 'whom t may concer/n Be it known that I, CHARLES M. THRASHER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Douglas, in the county ofCochiseand State of Arizona, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Bag-Closures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in t-he closures for bags andmore particularly paper bags such as are employed in grocery stores,drug stores, and the like. The ordinary paper bag of the collapsibletype, is devoid of any means for closing its mouth and, consequently, itis essential, after goods has been placed in such a bag, to fold overthe upper portion of the bag and then employ twine in securing theclosure in its overturned position. The use of twine is expensive andfurthermore, no matter how tightly tied, there is likelihood of loosepowdered material, such for example as sugar, being wasted through themouth of the bag. The present invention therefore has as its object toprovide such a bag with a closure which will in closed positioneiiectually close and seal the mouth of the bag so as to not onlyeifectually prevent the escape of powdered material from the bag, butalso obviate Lhe use of twine in tying the bag, thus obviating waste ofthe material and eliminating the cost of twine. The closure embodyingthe present invention is, furthermore, designed to permit of such a bagbeing more readily and quickly sealed than is possible by the ordinarymethod of folding over the upper portion of the bag and tying the bagwith twine.

The present invention has as a further object the provision of a closurepossessing the advantages above pointed out and having the furtheradvantage of being adapted to be initially housed within the mouth ofthe bag so as to prevent its being torn loose and so as to protect itsgummed surface.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ordinary paper bag provided withthe closure embodying the present invention, the bag being substantiallyfilled with material and closed;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2of Fig 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the upper or mouth portionof the bag, the closure flap of the present invention being housedwithin the bag;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the bag, theclosure flap being illustrated as withdrawn from its position within thebag.

I n the drawings, there is illustrated a bag indicated in general by thenumeral 1 and of the ordlnary construction, the bag including the usualfront and rear walls 2 and the side laits 3 which connect these walls,the bag emg, of course, of that type designed to be collapsed to fiatposition so that a number may be packed in a small space. The mouth ofthe bag is indicated by the numeral 4.

The closure embodying the present invention is in the nature of a iiap 5which may either form an integral part of one of the walls 2 or it maybe formed separately from the bag and attached to either wall. As isusual in the manufacture of such bags, the bag is formed from a singleintegral blank and the lateral edges of this blank are united byoverlapping the said edges and securing them together to form a seam 6which eX- tends vertically of one of the walls 2, and it is preferablethat the closure flap 5 embodying the present invention constitute acontinuation of the upper portion of this wall so that the flap Will bereinforced throughout its length due to the presence of the doublethickness of material provided by the overlapping edges forming the saidseam 6. At its line of juncture with the said wall of the bag, the iap 5is of a width equal to the width of the mouth of the bag and the sideedges of the said flap are inclined upwardly toward each other from theupper corners of the said wall, as indicated by the numeral 7. However,at a point between the said line of juncture of the flap with the saidwall and the outer end of the flap, the said lateral edges are extendedin parallel relation, as indicated by the numeral 8 so that a tongueportion 9 is provided and there is applied to the inner face of thetongue portion preferably throughout the entire area thereof, a suitablecoatmg of adhesive, indicated by the numeral 10.

As clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, which figure illustrates,however, the mouth ofthe bag partly open so as to more clearly show therelative arrangement of the parts, it will be observed that initiallythe closure iap 5 is.folded along its line of juncture with the wall ofthe bag to which it is connected, so as to occupy a position within themouth of the bag with its inner side resting against the inner face or'the said wall oie the bag. rlhus in the initial position oit the closureflap it is edectually protected from being torn from the bag or beingotherwise mutllated and, furthermore, the surface to which the adhesivecoating l0 is applied yis protected from moisture. 'W hen it is desiredto fill the bag with material, the mouth of the bag is opened and theclosure flap is withdrawn to assume about the position shown in Fig. lof the drawings, whereupon the material is introduced into the bag andafter the bag has been partly or wholly filled, the mouth portion of thebag is again collapsed by bringing the upper portions cit the walls 2into contact with cach other, after which the adhesive carrying face ofthe tongue 9 is moistened and the closure flap is then bodily foldeddownwardly along the line of juncture with the wail 2 'so that said apwill wholly overlap the outer face of the other wall of the bag andbecome united thereto by the said adhesive. As the closure iap at itsline of juncture with the wall of which it forms an extension, is or awidth equal to the width of the mouth of the bag, the mouth of the bagwill be eiiec tually closed so as to prevent waste of powdered materialfrom the corners of the mouth. Furthermore, inasmuch as the iiap forms apart of that wall of the bag which is provided with the seam 6, 'the:Flap is efectually reinforced and stiened lt will be evident that bythe employment of vthe closure above described,the use of twine isentirely obviated. e

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

As a new article of manufacture, a bag having side walls and connectingside plaits, the blank from which the bag is formed having edge portionsoverlapping and secured together to form a seam extending vertically ofone of the Walls, and a closure for the mouth of the bag comprising aflap constituting an extension of the seam-carrying wall whereby the Hapwill be reinforced by the presence of said seam, the fiap at its line ofjunction with the seam-carrying wall being of a. width equal to thewidth of the mouth of the bag and the free end of said Hap being reducedin width, the inner face of the reduced end of the nap being coated withan adhesive material and said flap when the bag is open being foldabledownwardly within the mouth thereof to house and protect the adhesivematerial, the wide end of the flap being adapted to ext-end across themouth of the bag when the lat-ter is closed andthe reduced end of saidap being adap-ted to overlap the outer face of the other wall and besecured thereto by said adhesive materiaL in testimony whereof amr mysignature.

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